Kiambu law to regulate animal feeds

Kiambu county government is set to enact a law seeking to control and regulate the quality of animal feed products made or sold in the area. According to the county deputy governor James Nyoro the law will also address the mushrooming of animal feeds manufacturing facilities in the region most of which, he said, are prone to producing sub-standard products.

Nyoro, who spoke at Gikambura Dairy Farmers Co-operative Society in Kikuyu sub-county, when he presented a milk cooler yesterday, said the law, which will take effect in two months, will see those found culpable penalised and their operation licences revoked.

He said that the county government would no longer sit back and watch as money hungry animal and poultry feeds manufacturers exploit farmers who invest thousands of shillings in buying their products only to get discouraging results.

â€œWe are determined to ensure that dairy and poultry farmers get the best of their hard work and therefore we shall rein in unscrupulous animal feeds products with the help of the Kenya Bureau of Standards and those who will be found having lowered the quality of their products will be dealt with according to the law,â€� he said.

Nyoro, who was flanked by the area member of county assembly Mugwanja Wamugwanja, said the county government would soon set up a mega animal feeds manufacturing factory which will guarantee farmers best quality products.

He said the administration would also start availing sexed semen to dairy farmers at subsidised prices to ensure their cows are of the highest quality and resistant to the common livestock diseases.

Sexed semens, when artificially inseminated into a cow, have a 100 per cent success rate in delivering a heifer as opposed to other semen whose success rate is below 50 per cent.